Rants, raves and reviews from a mother's perspective.

Weight Watchers

Freaking out already about all the eating you will be doing in the next few months, let alone trying to lose weight during this tough holiday season? Eat4Today is an online weight loss support group blog you should check out.

I find KatieBird's blog intriguing. It's a terrrific way to supplement the support we get at Weight Watchers meetings or just a way to inspire you in your health and weight loss goals.

As she writes, "So many of us have lost substantial amounts of weight only to gain it back as soon as the focus is gone. I'm hoping that together, we can keep our focus and lose the weight forever."

Use Eat4Today to get really inspired and blog about your weight challenges. As so many of the business and motivational speakers I'm listening to these day say, write down your goals (i.e. blog them). Otherwise you won't accomplish them since it's hard to be held accountable for thoughts in your head.

Nothing like getting back on the plan, and losing all of last week's gain and then some! Made me feel great at this week's meeting even though I didn't celebrate with the group since I was late arriving and the kids were running around.

(I go to a special "mommy's meeting" which has it's pros and cons. The pros are there are other kids there who are louder and more rambunctious than my kids. The cons are that I have trouble getting into the meeting - too many distractions with the kids there. And I don't treat it as a special time for myself like I do when I go to the early Saturday morning meeting.)

This week I even managed to have some of the leftover brie fondue and a couple of pieces of Monkey Boy's birthday cake, too! (O.K., so I had a lot of salads and roasted veggies this week to compensate.)

What's really exciting is that I'm able to tighten my belts a couple of notches more than a month ago and all my jeans are loose.

The problem with this week's loss is that inner self-talk they teach you about at Weight Watchers. Mine tends to say, "Well if it was that easy to loose the weight, you can splurge one week then go back on the plan the following week."

What's misleading about that kind of thinking is that it's really hard to go back to eating right and measuring portions. Some days it's so much easier for your inner voice to say, "Screw it. Let's have another piece of cheese. What's going to happen?"

You're going to gain weight or at least loose none that week. That's what's going to happen! It's that simple.

Well, it wasn't the party on Super Bowl Sunday that did me in. It was the leftovers. And combined with a tight schedule, constant rushing, and a bit of stress, it was too tempting not to eat all the leftover goodies.

But I'm back on track and hope that I'll see a loss at the next weigh in.

It's been slow going this week. Only a .6 weight loss that basically erases last week's gain. I can see what people mean when they say hitting a plateau is frustrating. You do all the things you're supposed to do, but you make little progress.

This has me thinking that weighing between 135 and 140 is just right for me. I feel great, my clothes are loose, and I'm able to tighten my belt a couple of notches more than a month ago.

Then there's my Super Bowl Party. This weekend I'm taking a break from Weight Watchers and indulging, so I expect to gain a pound or two at the next weigh in.

I'm a firm believer in taking time off from Weight Watchers as long as you set limits and name a specific time to go back on the plan. After all, there are times you need to relax, let go, hang with friends, indulge a little and party especially when you've been stressed out. But after that, no excuses.

So, Monday I'm back on the Weight Watchers plan and will have to deal with the consequences of my mini-bacchanalia at the next weigh in.

This week's weight LOSS: .6 pounds

Today's weight: 138.5 pounds

Total restart weight loss: 6.1 pounds

Original weight: 169.4 pounds on August 9, 2003

Original goal weight: 140 pounds

Reached goal: on January 10, 2004 at 137.8 pounds and made a Lifetime Weight Watcher member on March 6, 2004